‘Iran’s democratic system is far more fair-minded to their voters than the American system’; An Exclusive Interview with Robert Carter

In an interview with the Instituto Manquehue, Robert Carter, a London-based commentator said, “Iran’s democratic system is far more fair-minded to their voters than the American system which can explain the reason behind the mass protests following Trump’s election victory since he won with fewer votes than his main political rival.

Here’s the full transcript of the interview:

Mr. Carter, what’s your take on the recent presidential election in Iran and its effect on the region?

Robert Carter: First of all, I must begin by congratulating Iran on another successful election which has seen an overwhelming percentage of the population turn out to vote, many of whom are from the younger generation. A 73% turnout in this year’s elections, which is up from the 70% turnout in the 2013 elections which also saw Rouhani win convincingly with just over 57% of the popular vote in a country where two-thirds of the population is under 35. This shows us that Rouhani has achieved success in amassing stout support from not just minority groups and women but also the Iranian youth as a whole. As a result, Rouhani has increased his recent victory with an additional 4,936,287 voters than he had in 2013, a 26.5% increase of votes gained since his first election bid in 2013.

Rouhani won convincingly but at the same time the opposition to Rouhani, led by political Johnny-come-lately candidate Raisi, offered a bigger challenge than many analysts expected, keeping Rouhani under considerable pressure to defend his policies during the debates. Rouhani’s economic record was a main focus point during the debates but Rouhani also found himself personally targeted with accusations of corruption by the opposition in a clear attempt to soil his reputation as a clean anti-corruption centrist candidate. In the end, all attempts to oust Rouhani fell short as the Iranian public made its choice, gifting Rouhani a second term with more time to keep his long list of economic and cultural reform promises – some of which may come back to bite him during the later stage of his second term if not kept.

However, despite Raisi’s clear defeat, he has now established himself a presence within Iranian politics and could continue to build upon his support base to create a more convincing election challenge in future elections. Raisi did perform well under the circumstances when you consider that the majority of the Iranian public had little knowledge of who Raisi was before he was announced as a candidate in this year’s elections.

Rouhani’s re-election is nothing unprecedented within Iranian politics, it is very typical of the Iranian public to give its Presidents two terms to follow through their mandate promises. Ahmadinejad achieved the same, securing a second big win in his re-election bid in 2009; the results of which were contested by reformists opposition at the time forcing a random partial recount but what is a clear sign of advancement for Rouhani is the scale of the gains the reformist block has achieved during his years in office. Aside from Rouhani’s landslide presidential victory, reformist candidates have also performed well in the municipal council elections, claiming all 21 seats in the capital Tehran and making major gains in the six largest Iranian cities, including Raisi’s stronghold city of Mashhad. Mashhad is Iran’s holiest city, home to the Imam Ridha mosque, Raisi is the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, the wealthiest charity in the Muslim world and the organisation in charge of Iran’s holiest shrine (the shrine of Imam Ridha a.s) located inside the massive Imam Ridha mosque of Mashhad. For the reformists to achieve such noticeable political gains in traditionally conservative cities such as Mashhad can only be a message from the Iranian public of their support for Rouhani and reformists policies.

Iran has proven, to itself and the world, that diplomacy and economic expansion are what gives a country real power. Military ability alone can only achieve so much – a deep wide reaching economy can give Iran much more global leverage, something which Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Pentagon know all too well. Under Rouhani’s leadership, Iran has returned to the global market from complete icy economic isolation, free to do business with any country willing to ignore American fearmongering. Ultimately money talks, sooner or later the economic benefits of the historic Iran deal will become apparent; Iran has far too much potential to make money to simply be ignored. The biggest challenge will be for Iran to maintain a balance between defending itself and not provoking a military escalation with an incredibly hostile US-Saudi-Israel coalition which Trump is lining up with his recent visit to the Middle East. The best stance Iran can take in the face of such epic levels of anti-Iranian propaganda and hostility continues to grow its economy and connect with genuine allies looking to do real business without being drawn into a direct confrontation with the US anti-Iranian coalition. Rouhani & Zarif have maintained this balance with political perfection up to this point; Iran has made a confident choice but the road ahead will be jam-packed with obstacles.

When campaigning, all of the candidates – especially Rouhani – suggested that they will remain committed to the nuclear agreement. What will happen if the other sides, especially the US, violate the deal?

Robert Carter: All sides, even Trump himself, have promised not to ‘tear up’ the Iran deal. Both sides have benefitted from it in one form or another and to rip up the historic deal, which has a legacy of peace & progress using world diplomacy, would be a massive PR disaster, something Trump could very much do without.

However, given the (frankly, quite possible) scenario that Trump’s team breaks their end of the deal in an attempt to provoke Iran towards confrontation, Iran wouldn’t have to panic, as any US decision to backtrack on the deal does not mean the rest of the world would follow. Iran would be able to maintain building of relations and trading with other world powers including Russia, China, India and even with Europe; Iran has virtually no economic dependency on America and has established an impressive ‘Resistance economy’ – a concept originally declared by the Supreme Leader in a 2012 speech to promote an economic self-reliance strategy that would defeat the US-led efforts against Iran using economic and trade sanctions. The results of such an economy where hard earned and remain an unsustainable economic model but in the long term the resistance economy has created an ideal scenario where Iran can now expand its economy, post-sanctions, leaving America without a single piece of economic leverage it can wield against Iran’s government. Iran has an abundance of economic and trade opportunities as well as a fast rising tourism and manufacturing industry that Iran can become a prosperous nation without having to concern itself with American trade or investments.

History has proven again and again that true power over a nation rests in power over the local or global economy, something Iran has discovered for itself. If the US violates the deal, Iran will have nothing to lose economically instead only to gain. The real threat lies in the US-Saudi-Israeli attempts to drag Iran into further conflict in countries like Syria & Iraq.

Compared to other countries in the Middle East, how is the establishment of democracy and free speech in Iran?

Robert Carter: Iran is, without a doubt, one of the most democratic countries in the Middle East at the moment. This is something which is never admitted by western governments but if we want, to be honest with ourselves and help drag the region out of the war-ravaged mess it currently resides in, then the misconceptions about Iran must be dealt with in a mature fashion.

Take the latest Iranian election, for example, Rouhani won with 57% of the vote with a voter turnout of over 70% of the population, Trump, on the other hand, became president without even winning the popular vote and with just 57% US voter turnout. Rouhani also won huge support among minorities votes with some Kurdish majority areas registering a 75% turnout while the number of ethnic minorities turning up to vote in the US has fallen considerably to what some US political analysts have described as an abysmal level. So in some aspects, Iran’s democratic system is far more fair-minded to their voters than the American system which can explain the reason behind the mass protests following Trump’s election victory since he won with fewer votes than his main political rival. Challenges still remain within Iran’s political system and the reformist political identity grew from the need for both political within the Iranian institutional apparatus and social reforms within Iranian society.

Since the founding of the Islamic republic, Iran has facilitated democratic progress and debate within its society. Other regional powers which are often compared to Iran, such as Saudi Arabia, have non-existent democratic principles: no elections, no public votes and no freedom of political choice or political representation for anyone, most especially for minority groups living within Saudi’s borders. So the Islamic republic cannot and should not be compared to dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia as Iran’s constitution was built on an entirely different set of principles which have allowed for votes and a constitutional government which can be held to account by either the supreme leader or the Iranian public.

The Iranian take on an Islamic democracy is an important sign of Iran’s maturity as a nation in the way that it has reviewed the religious interpretations of the sharia in an attempt to modernize the ‘Islamic state’ model into a workable system of governance in today’s more complex society, however, some problems still remain which require change – change that can be achieved through internal political debate and constitutional evolution. The Iranian government has limitations on what services and institution that it can control. The IRGC is controlled by the supreme leader. The guardian council is a body of scholars who have authority over Iranian election process. The promises made by President Rouhani on reforms on social freedoms, management of public security and more freedoms for the press will be monumental challenge for his administration to turn these promises into reality. Iran’s security remains in a state of high significance considering foreign attempts to undermine Iran’s sovereignty.

The political debate on how much control the state should have over daily life and institutional running is a highly debatable issue which involves political ideologies from across the world, not just from within Iran. This debate has become more vigorous in the west recently following the revival of socialism led by Bernie Sanders & Jeremy Corbyn, two popular socialist politicians from the US & UK who have both risen in public profile following recent political successes and criticisms of the capitalist system which dominates world politics and economics. The fact that Iran continues to have this same debate, is a good indication of a healthier diplomatic process in comparison to total authoritarian dictatorships plaguing the Arab world; while Turkey, the hypothetical flag bearer for democracy in the Muslim world, continues its downward spiral towards Erdogan’s Ottoman autocracy. Iran, on the other hand, looks to be on an upward trend towards a more democratic society and western propaganda, as always, is wrong on Iran and should be disregarded.

How would you predict the US-Iran relations in the coming years?

Robert Carter: America is clearly putting together an anti-Iran coalition disguised as an ‘anti-terrorism’ effort. Trump himself has echoed his military chiefs’ anti-Iranian propaganda, that Iran is the ‘number one state sponsor of global terror’ and that Iran remains more of a ‘threat to world security than ISIS’, all nonsense of course, but when has an American administration ever allowed the truth to get in the way of a good story?

The fact remains, this could be the most hostile US administration the Islamic republic has seen so far, the same ferocity as the Bush admin but with even less sophistication or sense for repercussions. Trump is totally out of his depth and lacks even the most basic knowledge about Middle Eastern geopolitics. He is a colossal sellout, willing to surrender what little principles he has in order to side with the winning narrative. His tremendous U-turn on his opinions regarding Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11 and Syria’s president Assad make it seem as if the Trump from the election campaign is a totally different person to the Trump we have now as president. Both Israel & Saudi Arabia have huge lobbying power in American politics and both countries have made abundantly clear they want an escalation with Iran to curb Iranian growth and progress.

The relationship between the US & Iran is likely to remain strained as the US seems incapable of anything else but to continue its campaign of provocation. Thankfully Iran has re-elected a candidate who has proven he can handle hostile political situations with patience and calm, a skill which will become incredibly important in the foreseeable future.

Robert Carter is an English journalist and political commentator based in London, UK. Robert, who also goes by his Muslim name, Muhammad Ali Carter, specialises on Middle Eastern culture, politics and history as well as the current affairs of the global Muslim world. Robert has visited the region many times with a focus on Lebanon, Iran, Bahrain & Yemen. Robert currently works with Ahlulbayt TV as a TV news presenter but has also contributed for Iraq Insider, Veterans Today, Shafaqna, & Press TV.

The Manquehue Institute for Strategic Studies is a civic organization that pursues both the development of strategic views on main topics related to Latin American countries aimed at the local people, and projecting a faithful image of this region to the world.